Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have introduced a bill to combat Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland and agriculture companies.
Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) said the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act is a critical step to ensuring that foreign countries don't undermine American food security.
"Food is a national security issue. Increasing foreign ownership of American farms and farmland is a threat to our food security,” Costa said in a release on his House website. “We need to prevent foreign adversaries like China and Iran from undermining the American agricultural industry. We introduced this legislation to ensure American agriculture is operated by American businesses.”
Costa, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, introduced the bill along with Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rick Crawford (R-AR), as well as Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), the Feb. 1 release said. There are several co-sponsors in both chambers. The lawmakers introduced the bill in response to reports that Chinese buyers are threatening the American food supply by purchasing agricultural land and companies in the U.S.
“Recent reports of entities ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) buying American farmland and agriculture companies validate the need for a more proactive posture on protecting our agriculture sector from foreign threats," Crawford said in the release. "Adversarial nations like China, Iran, Russia and North Korea should not be given the opportunity to chip away at our economy and harm our agriculture producers who have worked diligently to create the world’s largest, safest and most abundant food supply. I appreciate colleagues like Rep. Stefanik who are willing to stand up for our farmers and bring real solutions to the table."
The PASS Act would ban China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying U.S. farmland and agriculture companies, and it would make the secretary of agriculture a standing member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the release said. The secretary of agriculture would also be required to report on any risks associated with foreign purchases in the U.S. agriculture sector. The bill would direct the president to report to Congress if any waivers are granted to a prohibited country.
“As a third-generation Montana farmer, I’m not going to sit back and let our foreign adversaries weaken our national security by buying up American farmland,” Tester said in the release. “That’s why I’m proud to be joining my friend Sen. Rounds on this bipartisan effort to prevent foreign entities from acquiring U.S. farmland and ensure our farmers have a seat at the table when the government makes decisions impacting our national security.”
A fact sheet released in October by the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) said that while American farmland is a strategic asset that enables the U.S. to maintain food security and independence, China's Belt and Road Initiative has a goal of controlling global food supply chains. Citing documents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the report found that the amount of U.S. farmland owned by Chinese entities rose from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020. AFPI said that 352,140 acres is enough for approximately 800 American families to farm.
In 2020, the China Academy of Social Sciences’ Rural Development Institute said in a study that by the end of 2025, China would experience a grain shortfall of approximately 25 million metric tons, according to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. China's food security problem comes from a combination of shifting demographics, decreasing arable land and natural disasters. Since Xi Jinping took power, he has prioritized policies to bolster China's food security and reduce waste while also working to expand domestic farming and attain new agricultural technologies, such as genetically modified (GM) seeds, the report said.
However, the domestic efforts have not been enough, so Xi has been looking internationally for solutions, and since the U.S. is a global leader in fields such as animal husbandry and intellectual property related to seeds, Xi has targeted the U.S., which presents risks to American economic and food security.
The commission's report said that although almost 20% of the global population lives in China, it possesses only 7-9% of global arable land. Whereas China had 294 million acres of arable land in 2018 and a population of 1.4 billion as of 2020, the U.S. has more than 375 million acres of land and a population of 329.5 million. China's arable land has been shrinking over the past decade due to pollution, industrial growth and urbanization, the commission said, leading to Chinese purchases of American farmland.
Fufeng Group, which has ties to the Chinese government, recently purchased 370 acres of land in North Dakota, only 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base. Smithfield Foods, the top U.S. pork producer, was purchased in 2013 by the Chinese company WH Group, also backed by the Chinese government. Smithfield has helped China by sending record amounts of pork to China in 2020, the commission report said.
